Snapshots of The Lame Guard
by Nate The Ape
Summary: A series of drabbles about Kun Yong, my OC boyfriend for Toph from The Blind Huntress.
1. Suspicion

**This is the first in a series of drabbles I plan to do to expand more on the character of Kun Yong, my OC from my fic The Blind Huntress, Toph's love interest, and former Dai Li cadet. Lamed in a battle with Fire Nation soldiers, he works as a guard and is three years older than Toph, who calls him Granite Feet.**

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><p><strong>Suspicion.<strong>

"Are you out of your mind?" Sokka shouted in disbelief as his suddenly wary face shifted from Kun to Toph and then back again. "You've got the hots for a member of the Dai Li, one of the same creepy guys who tried to smash you into a pulp?"

"But Granite Feet was never our enemy," Toph argued back on his behalf, spreading her hands. "He wasn't even old enough to have completed advanced training at the time! And he even kind of helped us by fighting a bunch of Firebender soldiers all by himself when the comet came," she added.

After a long, thoughtful silence, Sokka's eyes met his, hard and blue as sapphires, his head slightly cocked. Pointing at Kun, he droned, "I'm watching you buddy," before turning on his heel and stalking away.

"Sorry you feel that way," Kun replied morosely, in a tone too low for the other man to hear.

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><p><strong>More drabbles to come!<strong>


	2. Gifts

**Gifts.**

Having a girlfriend who couldn't see always made it more challenging for the lame guard to find a gift that he knew she'd enjoy.

But when Kun had seen the tortoiseshell kitten in the market, and closed his eyes while he'd petted it, feeling the warmth of its little body, the graceful arches of its shoulders, hearing the soothing hum of its purring as he stroked fur that felt like silk, he knew there could be no better choice.


	3. Playing Fair

**Playing Fair.**

Whenever they wrestled together, Kun knew he could easily use his earthbending skills to make a fool out of Sokka at any time. Even when the Water Tribe youth, in the heat of the moment, tried to goad him into using his full capabilities, Kun still held back anyhow.

But he also did enjoy hearing Toph or Suki mention to him later on how sweet it was of him to let Snoozles win his share of matches too.

For his part, Sokka never willingly took advantage of his opponent's crippled leg.


	4. Smile

**Smile.**

Kun remembered vividly the first time he'd seen Long Feng at the training academy as a ten-year-old. He'd stood with the other boys in a disciplined line as the older man had stalked down the line, raking each boy with that flinty green gaze.

When his eyes had rested on Kun Yong, the boy had shied back from them. He knew it was a huge breach of the rules to do so, but he just couldn't help it. Long Feng's eyes had been so predatory and cold and glittering and malicious, terrible green jewels that seemed to be burning holes in Kun's brain.

His instructor, Gao Hsing, had savagely slapped him then, shouting, "You _stay still_ for your superiors!"

Long Feng had immediately flung up a hand then, barking at the other man, "No further punishment!" His awful voice softening, he then said, "I'm pleased that he shies from me actually. It means he knows I am to be feared. And from fear respect is born. Soon enough you too, my lad, will be reminding others what respect is," he'd told Kun. And then he'd given the cadet a wolfbat's smile, a smile that made Kun's spine vibrate like a struck gong before Long turned and moved away.


	5. Fragrances

**Fragrances.**

As they held each other underneath the great pear tree, Toph seated in his lap, a terrible, excruciating stab of pain suddenly knifed through Kun's soul as he thought of how she could never see the blue of the spring sky, the dazzling ivory of the pear blossoms, the brilliant carmine of the peony blooms, enjoy the vivid orange of the chrysanthemums.

But then he remembered she could still smell the odor of growth in the warm spring air, the heady, wonderful fragrances of the flowers, the moist soil, and his own sharp, musky scent while he held her.

And for the blind earthbender, that was sufficient.


	6. Bloodlust

**Bloodlust.**

With his bum leg and generally friendly, good-humored nature, Sokka sometimes found it hard to remember that like him, deep down Kun was a warrior and had been trained as such, that in the span of an eyeblink he could transform from a nice guy to a savage aggressor bent only on spilling your lifeblood.

And then there were times like today that put that fact back into sharp relief.

Kun had decided to show Sokka a good time during his stay in Gaoling by taking him out pig hunting for the day, and the Water Tribe youth had been more than happy to accept the offer. Huang Yin, the mayor of the neighboring town of Guan and the man who Kun served as a guard, had allowed him and Sokka the use of three of his shar pei dogs and two of his long-legged morse as mounts.

The dogs had run down a gharial sow in a small clearing, and Sokka had spurred his morse onward to reach the scene. But Kun had gotten there first, flinging his stone gloves through the air to seize the squealing sow's back legs in a terrible grip that no creature could possibly loosen, and then pull them up into the air like the handles of a wheelbarrow.

Before Sokka could even complete his dismount, Kun was already awkwardly racing to the gharial pig, grabbing the bristles on her shoulders and plunging the blade of his short sword into the pit of her foreleg, working it deeper and deeper.

When at last the sow lay dead and Sokka had pulled the dogs off, he'd extended his hand to Kun, hunched over his kill, preparing to shake hands as he said, "Nice work Kun!"

And then Kun's head had snapped up in an almost startled jerk, the expression underneath his conical emerald hat causing Sokka to recoil. His green eyes glittered with a wild, possessive, feral triumph, and his nostrils flared in a jerking, heavy manner. His teeth were slightly parted, half-bared in a sort of mindless, thick, faintly challenging sort of grin.

And suddenly, the image of an arctic wolf that had just made prey, looking up from its kill as it drooled blood, flashed through a frightened Sokka's head.

And of Azula's smile.

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><p><strong>Morse are a creation of mine. They resemble a cross between a cow moose and a horse, and are about the size of a Clydesdale.<strong>


	7. Cockroach

**Cockroach.**

Even at the young age of nearly sixteen, a youth enrolled in the Dai Li's training academy knows something about stealth. Kun already knew how to use his stone gloves and shoes to climb a stone pillar with the slow, deliberate finesse of a tree frog. He was learning how to silently hang, upside down, from the ceiling of a hall or cavern like a fox-bat.

He knew how to lurk in a dark alley or cranny, keeping his breathing as soft as the flapping of a butterfly's wings. He knew how to watch someone from the other side of a roof, peering over the ridge at them and listening to their every word like a crested bobcat watching a bird. He was learning how to stalk even the wariest of civilians, making even the impact of his stone clogs sound as faint as a mouse walking over a wooden table-and then charge at them with the singleminded, implacable determination and speed of a camelephant bull in musth. He already knew how to scramble up a sheer stone wall like a meowing gecko if the situation required it.

These were all vital skills he'd need to call upon in the future as an agent, and Kun was proud of mastering them, of showing his classmates and instructors and superiors his steady progress, displaying just what he could do. It made him feel confident and bold.

Privately however, all this stealthy lurking and stalking and laying in wait also made Kun Yong feel creepy, like he was some nasty insect. Like he was a cockroach.


	8. Chapter 8

**Reluctance.**

Dressed in a nightgown of mint green silk trimmed with citron yellow, Toph suddenly turned to face Kun as she petted Lin, the tortoiseshell cat he'd given her as a birthday present, eyes widening.

"You know that song I like Granite Feet? Mo Li Hua?"

"Yes, the one about the jasmine flower," he slowly nodded.

"Could you sing it for me?"

Kun blanched at the thought, the notion of doing something so embarrassing.

"Um, couldn't I just get one of your servants to come and sing it for us instead?" he stammered.

"No Granite Feet, I want _you_ to sing the song."

"I don't want to sing," Kun protested, cheeks flushing as he turned away.

"You are _going_ to sing the song for me," Toph sternly replied, eyes narrowing.

"I don't want to sing the song," Kun groaned.

"Sing it, Granite Feet," Toph warned.

"I'm not going to sing. It's undignified."

"I don't care if it's undignified, I want to hear you sing it."

"I. Don't. Want. To. Sing."

"Quit being such a butthead and just do it!"

"I don't want to sing the song!

"_Do it you big baby!_" Toph snapped, startling Lin from her lap.

"All right, you win," Kun sighed, conceding defeat. "I'll sing the song for you." Rising to his feet, he positioned himself in front of Toph, whose lips twisted into a satisfied smirk as Kun began, "Flower of jasmine so fair/ Flower of jasmine so fair/ Budding and blooming here and there/ Pure and fragrant all declare..."

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><p><strong>The song Toph has Kun sing for her, Mo Li Hua, or the Jasmine Flower, is a very popular and old Chinese folk song.<strong>


End file.
